Lamentations 3

Chapter 3

Jeremiah Shares Israel’s Affliction

¹I am the man who has ^aseen affliction

Because of the rod of His wrath.

²He has driven me and made me walk

In ^adarkness and not in light.

³Surely against me He has ^aturned His hand

Repeatedly all the day.

⁴He has caused my ^aflesh and my skin to waste away,

He has ^bbroken my bones.

⁵He has ^abesieged and encompassed me with ^bbitterness and hardship.

⁶In ^adark places He has made me dwell,

Like those who have long been dead.

⁷He has ^awalled me in so that I cannot go out;

He has made my ^1bchain heavy.

⁸Even when I cry out and call for help,

He ^ashuts out my prayer.

⁹He has ^ablocked my ways with hewn stone;

He has made my paths crooked.

¹⁰He is to me like a bear lying in wait,

Like a lion in secret places.

¹¹He has turned aside my ways and ^atorn me to pieces;

He has made me desolate.

¹²He ^abent His bow

And ^bset me as a target for the arrow.

¹³He made the ¹arrows of His ^aquiver

To enter into my ²inward parts.

¹⁴I have become a ^alaughingstock to all my people,

Their mocking ^bsong all the day.

¹⁵He has ^afilled me with bitterness,

He has made me drunk with wormwood.

¹⁶He has ^abroken my teeth with ^bgravel;

He has made me cower in the ^cdust.

¹⁷My soul has been rejected ^afrom peace;

I have forgotten ¹happiness.

¹⁸So I say, “My strength has perished,

And so has my ^ahope from the Lord.”

Hope of Relief in God’s Mercy

¹⁹Remember my affliction and my ¹wandering, the ^awormwood and bitterness.

²⁰Surely ^amy soul remembers

And is ^bbowed down within me.

²¹This I recall to my mind,

Therefore I have ^ahope.

²²The Lord’s ^alovingkindnesses ¹indeed never cease,

^bFor His compassions never fail.

²³They are new ^aevery morning;

Great is ^bYour faithfulness.

²⁴“The Lord is my ^aportion,” says my soul,

“Therefore I ^bhave hope in Him.”

²⁵The Lord is good to those who ^await for Him,

To the ¹person who ^bseeks Him.

²⁶It is good that he ^awaits silently

For the salvation of the Lord.

²⁷It is good for a man that he should bear

The yoke in his youth.

²⁸Let him ^asit alone and be silent

Since He has laid it on him.

²⁹Let him ¹put his mouth in the ^adust,

Perhaps there is ^bhope.

³⁰Let him give his ^acheek to ¹the smiter,

Let him be filled with reproach.

³¹For the Lord will ^anot reject forever,

³²For if He causes grief,

Then He will have ^acompassion

According to His abundant lovingkindness.

³³For He ^adoes not afflict ¹willingly

Or grieve the sons of men.

³⁴To crush under His feet

All the prisoners of the ¹land,

³⁵To ¹deprive a man of ^ajustice

In the presence of the Most High,

³⁶To ^1adefraud a man in his lawsuit—

Of these things the Lord does not ²approve.

³⁷Who is ¹there who speaks and it ^acomes to pass,

Unless the Lord has commanded it?

³⁸Is it not from the mouth of the Most High

That ^1aboth good and ill go forth?

³⁹Why should any living ¹mortal, or any man,

Offer ^acomplaint ²in view of his sins?

⁴⁰Let us ^aexamine and probe our ways,

And let us return to the Lord.

⁴¹We ^alift up our heart ¹and hands

Toward God in heaven;

⁴²We have ^atransgressed and rebelled,

You have ^bnot pardoned.

⁴³You have covered Yourself with ^aanger

And ^bpursued us;

You have slain and ^chave not spared.

⁴⁴You have ^acovered Yourself with a cloud

So that ^bno prayer can pass through.

⁴⁵You have made us mere ^aoffscouring and refuse

In the midst of the peoples.

⁴⁶All our enemies have ^aopened their mouths against us.

^47aPanic and pitfall have befallen us,

Devastation and destruction;

⁴⁸My ^1aeyes run down with streams of water

Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

⁴⁹My eyes pour down ^aunceasingly,

Without stopping,

⁵⁰Until the Lord ^alooks down

And sees from heaven.

⁵¹My eyes bring pain to my soul

Because of all the daughters of my city.

⁵²My enemies ^awithout cause

Hunted me down ^blike a bird;

⁵³They have silenced ¹me ^ain the pit

And have ^2bplaced a stone on me.

⁵⁴Waters flowed ^aover my head;

I said, “I am cut off!”

⁵⁵I ^acalled on Your name, O Lord,

Out of the lowest pit.

⁵⁶You have ^aheard my voice,

“^bDo not hide Your ear from my prayer for relief,

From my cry for help.”

⁵⁷You ^adrew near when I called on You;

You said, “^bDo not fear!”

⁵⁸O Lord, You ^ahave pleaded my soul’s cause;

You have ^bredeemed my life.

⁵⁹O Lord, You have ^aseen my oppression;

^bJudge my case.

⁶⁰You have seen all their vengeance,

All their ^aschemes against me.

⁶¹You have heard their ^areproach, O Lord,

All their schemes against me.

⁶²The ^alips of my assailants and their whispering

Are against me all day long.

⁶³Look on their ^asitting and their rising;

^bI am their mocking song.

⁶⁴You will ^arecompense them, O Lord,

According to the work of their hands.

⁶⁵You will give them ^1ahardness of heart,

Your curse will be on them.

⁶⁶You will ^apursue them in anger and destroy them

From under the ^bheavens of the Lord!